The Call of a Hero
by 904joshua
Summary: Meet Forge a mysterious warrior from another land as he travels across a kingdom in distress and in need of a hero, will he be their champion or their destroyer. Right reviews and commits if you want to hear more of his adventure
1. Chapter 1

He, a man with short brown hair, sharp features, and a strong muscular build, dressed in white pants, a thick white collared shirt with extended arms to keep the cold out and a hood that covered the top half of his face, so that if you looked directly at him all you would see where eyes and a mouth. He stood alone, thinking of his past, having spent a majority of his young teen life in the cold wind swept mountains he had very little knowledge of the world beyond the snowstorm mountains. His only companion was a large Snow cat, who he had raised after the death of its mother.

'Crack!', he whirled around to see the cause what at interupted his peaceful thinking time. He scanned the tree line, then from out of the shadows stepped a nightmarish creature, covered in dark grey furr with yellowish spines protruding from the bace of the neck to the tip of the tail, it stood a head taller then any man he had ever seen, its head looked to be that of a wolf but it was far larger to match the size of the body, its three inch claws all curved to a point as well as its huge knife like fangs and glowing red eyes that seemed to leave a trail when it left that spot. Another one of these beast stepped forward from the darkness followed by a man! He was dressed in complete battle armor that was symmetrical to itself, but instead of the purity of white he wore mostly red with black highlights here and there, giving an ominous look. He also had a shining double edged sword with red inlay hanging at his side. He also wore a symbol on his chest that brought back very painful memories to the white cloaked man, five diamond shapes, one inside of a larger one, and three splayed on the bottom, but they were all connected and stuck out of the armor a little ways. His helm which covered his head had black glass shaped like two connected diamonds for him to see through and a third one that pointed down, connecting to the others, but this one was red as blood.

"Who are you?! demanded the man in white, staring down his new opponents.

"I am...the blood knight, Regan" he paused to look over the stranger. "And I have been searching for Forge, guardian of the northern gates". This caught the man in white by surprise, he thought to himself '_how does he know my real name_', he bent down on one knee and started to play with snow to think. This Infuriated Regan though he did his best to hide it, "Can you not understand me stranger? Or do i have to pry the information from your dyeing body just like the others", he said with a slight smirk. During this time he had taken off his helmet so that he could see this man better, and Forge had finally rolled enough snow together to make a decent sized snowball, Regan didn't seem to notice, but what he did notice was a small symbol right above his heart that looked like a golden circle with two lightning bolts crossing behind it. At the mention of "others" being killed for info on himself he stood up and faced Regan and his wolf-things.

"If you want me so bad, why did it take you so long to find me?"he taunted, "Any of the Northern Knights could have told you exactly were i was, or were you to stubborn to listen".Regan did exactly as he had hoped, his face got almost as red as his armor, his eyes bulged, Forge thought he was about to have a temper tantrum.

"You'll pay for that insult you worm! I will hang you head on my mantel. I will...". Smack! Regan reeled backwards coughing and spiting out the chilling snow, but by the time he had gotten all the snow out of his eyes and ears and looked back to where Forge had stood, he was gone. "Curses! That swine will pay, i will find him" he looked over at the wolf-things "What are you waiting for you stupid beasts! Find h...".Smack! Again right in his face, this time he got the snow out of his eyes first, he looked in the direction the snowy missile had been fired. There standing at the edge of the cliff was Forge, bent over laughing at his very comical opponent. Regan was so angry that he couldn't even speak, Rorge took this opportunity to give a quick two fingered wave of goodbye and backflipped off the mountain edge. Regan still speechless ran up to the edge of the cliff hoping by some miracle his prey had not gotten away from him, but what he saw was even worse, Forge was skidding down the slope with incredible speed and ease.

Regan exasperated, turned and yelled at the wolfs, "What are you standing around for! go get him!". The wolf-things ran over and jumped after Forge, but they didn't know the environment like he did, they had no control over their direction. One of them hit a rock, flipped into the air and hit the ground rolling and gathering snow, the other slid right into a tree 'smash!' leaving a wolf man imprint on the tree and knocking it over, the beasts barreled down the slope until they reach the bottom, but their momentum kept them going and they both flew over the edge of the mountain to their deaths, splattering on the bottom in a mess of blood and guts.

"Your next Regan" Forge said looking up at his last opponent.

"Well if you want something done right", he jump onto the slope," you have to do it yourself". He slide to the bottom of the slope where he found Forge awaiting him. Regan slid within thirty paces of Forge and started to close the distance, drawing his sword for a powerful overhead strike he ran up to Forge who didnt move a muscle. He stopped only two paces away and lowered his sword.

"Why don't you defend yourself! I could have killed you and it wouldn't have mattered" he stated matter-o-factly.

"I knew you wouldn't kill me, at least not yet anyway" he paused and took a step forward, only one pace away, he was close enough to see his eyes through his mask. Regan raised his sword and poked Forge in the chest to keep distance, this didn't seem to bother Forge, unnerving his opponent even more. "And another thing, your masters want me for some reason, thats why you didn't run me through when you had the chance, that will be your last mistake". Forge knocked Regans sword out of the way with his left hand, twisted his body to the side and struck his mask full force with his head, shattering the glass protecting Regan's eyes and knocking him backwards.

"Aaaarrrrrgggggg" Regan shouted pulling off his helmet and scraping the bloody glass from his eyes, raising his sword hand to protect himself from anymore unexpected attacks. Then he heard Forge speak.

"Now you get to see my parlor trick". Forge took his right hand in an overhead arc from left to right with his for finger and ring finger pointed out and what looked like snowflakes trailed behind them. Slamming his hands together, the palm of his right against the fist of his left, the moment the touched a flash blinding light hit Regan in the face, and as quickly as it came it was gone. Wen he opened his eyes, no longer was a man in ragged white clothes standing there, but a Knight. His armor was whiter than the snow itself with shiny gold inlay that sparkled off the suns radiance and the gold symbol emblazon on his chest, his helmet had curved "T" shaped glass for him to see through, and a cape flowing behind him. He stood tall, the many marks here and there across his armor indicating the many battles he had fought in. Regan backed up, now realizing that he was far outmatch.

"I knew it was you! You've been hiding up here for to long, its time you come rejoin the living!" Regan was done playing his games and charged him, his sword flying in every was able to dodge most of these, but he didn't see one of the wolf men climbing up the slope behind him. Regan began to force him towards the edge, and as he back up he felt a strong grip latch on to his ankle. '_Not you again_' he stole a glance down to look at the creature, it had one leg missing and a gaping wound across its face revealing what was left of its bloody teeth. Then he saw it Regan's blade heading strait for him, it sliced through his helmet like butter and sending him into a snow drift. He removed his helmet revealing a gash going from the top of his left cheek bone through his nose ending at a lower point on his right cheek. Regan closed the distance quickly and set his sword against his throat and pressed so that more blood trickled down.

"Now what are you going to do old man?"


	2. Chapter 2

Forge rolled backwards in the snow, stood to his feet, and launched himself at Regan plowing him over.

"Now what are you going to do?"He said as he sat on his opponent. Regan swung his fist at him trying to get him off, but Forge caught it and began pulling upwards ripping the arm out of its socket. Regan let out a howl of pain but was silenced by Forge's armored gauntlet slamming into his face splattering blood everywhere on the white snow. He Brought his hand up for another blow but found that his opponent had been incapacitated or knocked out. However he had forgotten about the maimed wolf man that was at that moment about to sink its dyeing teeth into his neck, but from out of the woods flew a white and gray body that collided with the wolf man killing it instantly. Forge looked up to see his snow cat or "Paws" as he affectionately called the creature. He stood up and brushed the cats furry back, it gave out a low pppppuuuuuurrrrrrr as he continued to stroke it.

"Good girl" he said, the rush of adrenaline wearing was finally wearing off. He picked up Regan and slung him over his shoulder, garbing his sword for safe keeping. He looked down at the big cat, who was starring at him inquisitively.

"What do you want me to do with him then? leave him out in the cold so he can freeze to death? Im not just going to leave this man to the mercy of the elements." He stated, the cat looked back at him then at the limp body hanging over his shoulder and licked her chops as if asking, '_well then can i just eat him and be done with it?_'.

"No, you cannot eat him, and if i catch you nibbling on him, you will get no food for a week." he growled to emphasize his point, the cat look down and flattened her ears obviously hurt by the harsh tone. The remainder of the journey was pretty quiet, when they reached home, or what they called home, a large cave carved out by a dragon on the east side of the mountain with little furnishings over here and other there, but the thing that took up the most space was a large forge sitting on the left side of the cave as well as several tools and weapons that had been made there. Forge laid Regan across a sturdy wood table, that he had carved for himself, brushing whatever was on the table off he began doing first aid to the cuts and bruises he had sustained during the fight.

"Paws, do you know were i put...", the big cat handed him a role of bandages in its mouth.

"Thanks old friend, now lets see if we can't tidy things up for are guest, oh oh oh, and bring me some chains, we don't need him going anywhere"He said with a chuckle, he then proceeded to remove Regan's armor, once that was off he found a nice large chain, it had taken him a few weeks to make it and never quite knew when he would ever use it, but he was glad he made it all the same.

"You know Paws this reminds me of when i met your mother", the cat looked at him again with a '_how is that relevant right now?_' look in its intelligent eyes.

"Well maybe our guest would like to hear some history, but first i have to make a call", he walk over to another table where a pencil and a piece of parchment lay and began writing a letter to the Knights Council Vanix, a major city that was the center of learning and development, it was also on the other side of the kingdom, the letter said:

_'Knights of the Council, I have some disturbing new. I have evidence that our greatest enemy has once again found recruits, i have just fought one as well as some of his vile creatures. I would suggest further exploration into the unknown areas outside are kingdoms borders to discover the cause of these beasts. I shall remain ever vigilant and continue to guard the northern gates and i again request a transfer of station. Send a transport, food and drink, I cannot keep my guest for to long before he figures out where he is._

_ Until we meet again, Forge the Defender of the Northern Gates, and Guardian of the Star salutes you'_

He took the parchment, rolled it up and put it into a little messengers tube, grabs some string and went to the back of the cave to where a large cage sat. He looked inside it a huge blue grey dragon lay sleeping on the cold stone floor, its nostrils flared as it caught his sent, opening one eye it asked

"Are we going on another journey?" It asked in a deep raspy voice, turning its head so it faced its body it blew out a stream of fire that splashed of its body and warmed the cave.

"Yes, well no, we are going on another mail run and back again, we will probably grab some supplies while were down there.". The dragon looked at him then caught the smell of blood in the air and looked over towards the table wear Regan lay breathing more steadily now.

"Mmm, is that my dinner, i haven't had man in many years, I've almost forgotten what it tastes like". It eyed the body hungrily.

"I already told Paws that there will be no eating are guest, or did you forget why i was send up here in the first place." He starred down the beast, the beast starred back.

"No i haven't forgotten that day", it said as its mind wondered back to that fateful day.

"Don't eat me please, I'm not good for digestion". The little human said terrified as it hung upside down in the grip of the mighty dragon.

"Aww the pleases for mercy, always the sweetest right before the crunch", It said as he lowered the man into his mouth, another successful raid on the human settlements and a few gold coins to add to his collection. He was just about to close his mouth when the smell of horse and rider came to his nose, suddenly a flash of light blinded him for second but what followed was much worse. A spear impacted against his scaly hide and imbedded itself in his ribs, he let out a huge roar that shook the cavern, dropping his prey. He looked over to wear the spear had come, a white knight, apon a mighty stallion stood at the entrance of the cave with his sword drawn.

"A lunch that fights back is no lunch at all, but the victory is better than seconds", he said more to himself than to the knight. He spread his wing and stood on his haunches and breathed out a storm of fire. The knight jumped of his horse, slapped the beast to go and ducked behind his shield, fire rained all around him, yet none touched him. The dragon charged the knight...

"WindShear, you-who, hello in there!", WindShear broke out of his trance and looked down at the human who was touching his nose gently and looked at him with caring eyes.

"When do we leave master?", he asked.


	3. Chapter 3

Standing next to his time table, a calendar of sorts, it goes by moons, one cycle equals one month, thirteen cycles equals one year. Forge looked intently at the board locating his dates, he looked up from the craved table and said rather drearily

"We'll be arriving just in time for the tournaments, yay.", the tournaments besides being a time of competition was also a time when everyone got drunk on ale and other strong liquids, couples disappeared every night into the backs of taverns, and generations of stories were told around the fire to the wee ones, a time of much merriment to say the least, but there were far to many people for his taste.

"Sir, you should enter the tournaments this year, I'm sure you could win.". The big mountain dragon said from where he sat at the entrance of the cave, looking back at his master and his 'guest' who by now was awake, but was very quiet.

"The tournaments are for new-be knight and would-be gladiators, good place for any knight to get his name out their.". Forge thought back several years ago when he had entered every tournament he could find just to get the money and for the crowds applause for when you won, and for all the things he did at them, when he looked back at those years he wished he could have changed it. Then it occurred to him, his attacker had arrived just in time for the competitions and by taking out a Circle Knight, that alone would have gotten him into the tourney. He looked over at Regan who was looking at him with hate filled stare.

"Regan, im going to give you one more chance to beat me and if only to get you off my back, I'm going to take you with me to the tournaments and you can try there to best me in front of some of the largest crowds in the kingdom, what do you say?". He knew that he had Regan caught, and that this particular mans pride was enough for the both of them. Regan stared at him even harder now, but didn't say anything yet.

"Welllll?", he prodded a smile slowly growing across his face.

"Well if thats the only way out of this hole then ill take it, but be warned, my vengeance will be swi", but he was unable to finish his sentence.

"Yea yea you told me before" he paused to think of a witty retort, "right before i hit you in the face with a snow ball! He chuckled to himself and looked back at the dragon.

"You will fly us there in the morning so i have time to pack provisions for the trip, as well as other useful items, Paws!" Hey shouted at the snow cat abruptly waking it from it afternoon nap, it looked up at him and hist about being woken up so rudely.

"Go see if you can catch us some venison, i'm famished, and i'll get a fire going" he walk over to his fire supplies and saw that he was fresh out of kindling, '_oh well he thought, just one more thing to do_'.

During what seemed like a long time Regan watch this man work to get a fire started, he eventualy called over that beast he called his friend to light it for him which it was happy to do. He got up finally from the table from which he had been laying for most of the day and looked around the cave, nothing but a few wooden tables and chairs, a few other necessities, but the thing that stood out most was the large metal forge over near the front of the cave. It had several tools laying around such as a pair of tongs, several different types of hammers, and a few hole punches of differing sizes, but that wasn't all, many swords, finished and unfinished littered the floor, some axes and spears also doted the collection, some had elemental power gems socketed into them. Forge caught the glances at his collection.

"Do you like them?" he asked calmly

"Some of them took a long time to perfect, but its a good way to stay warm up in these icy slopes during winter."

"Were you a metal smith before you became a knight?" he asked wondering how he had gotten his hans on so many gems.

"No no, i trained to be a warrior much earlier than i did to become a smith"

"Then how did yo become so good at it, i see swords here that could be sold for hundreds of thousands of credits", hearing a complement come from his mouth he shut it quick, this was the enemy he was talking to, not some local smith, he was supposed to hate them, yet this mans soft continence seemed to melt that hate away with every minute. An unbearable silence ensued, Forge opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Dinner arrived shortly after and was quickly cooked and eaten by all, and thanks to the dragon there were no left overs. Forge continued to prepare for tomorrows journey to the city, when the moon was high in the sky he finished his preparations and sat down next to his scaly friend, Paws curled up next to him setting her large head on his leg, he quickly fell into a deep sleep. Regan however couldn't go to sleep on the hard stone floor, he missed his warm bed and all the servants attending him, he again surveyed the cave ending at the large gaping entrance, and he could have sworn that he saw a shadow of a man in the door way, but it disappeared before he could decide if it was real or not, after that he finally slipped into a deep sleep.

He awoke to the sound of metal striking metal, looking around he saw Forge hammering on a nearly complete blade, it looked red but that just might be the light of the forge,'_I wonder whats going on in his head right now_' he thought before once again going to sleep.

The flag dropped from the top of the spectators stand, the sound of thundering hooves followed as two knights on horse back charged from opposite ends of the arena, a younger version of Forge stood atop one of the horses, his opponent, the undefeated champion for two years running, the Faceless knight, why he is called that is dew to the fact that he never took off his mask when anyone else was around. They closed the distance, ten yards, his hammer struck the steel, five yards, harder this time, two yards, again, one. The two opponents went flying from there horses, Forge landing on his back and getting the wind knocked out of him, his opponent landed on his feet and drew his sword, getting into a ready position. Forge stood up and stole a glance at the spectators stand, his father looked on analyzing every move he made, he looked back at his opponent and drew his sword the one he had to make in order to enter this tournament. He charged recklessly at a more skill enemy, the other knight side stepped and twisted his body around so that his blade arced down his back, a large gash went across from one shoulder of his armor to the other and blood oozed from the wound it made. He turned to face his opponent again as an onslaught of slices and cuts flew toward him, he blocked as many as he could but he has in a steady retreat. Then he saw his chance, an opening in the attacks and he took it, he lunged, but to no avail, he sailed past the knight as he lost his footing and fell to the ground. He once more looked up at the stands and saw his father looking at the ground and shaking his head.

A large tear splashed on the new blade and sizzled into steam as he placed the sword onto the moon chart table. He looked over at the entrance of the cave, the sun was just peaking over the ridge. It was time to go.


	4. Chapter 4

Flying over the mountains and forest brought a rush of adrenaline to Forge and his passenger, clinging to the scaly hide of the dragon. WindShear, for all his size and strength was fast, they flew over the forest until they saw a clearing with a small village in it, all the people looked up in awe at the beast and its two riders as they zoomed overhead. They passed several other small towns before reaching a large city with gleaming buildings, tall spires, arenas, but the most eye catching area was the huge market place encompassed the hole center of the city.

"Theres the city of Kilish, one of the largest trading cities in the kingdom", he said as he looked back at his passenger. Regan had held a stoic expression for most of the flight pretending not to care, but this city truly was beautiful, then the thought crossed his mind '_How am i going to get out of here?_', he contemplated that for some time before realizing that they were descending toward a large complex with a large circular space with torches staked outside of the ring. They flew closer, WindShear seemed confident he could make the landing, but his two unarmored packages were not so sure. However they found those fear unfounded, as the dragon landed smoothly within the ring. All the people gathered around to looked at the winged serpent, but kept a health distance. It wasn't unusual to see a dragon these days as most royalty had them as pets, but they almost always had that persons seal burned onto their chest, so an unmarked dragon, was highly unusual indeed. Forge took this opportunity to slip off and unload supplies, keeping his face hidden under his cloak so not to draw attention to himself, Regan got off behind him.

"Keep close to me and don't make eye contact, we have to get inside and find out were the postal rout is here, then we'll see to other matters". Forge walked up to one of the guards stationed at the doorway.

"Put the dragon in the stable area, he'll tell you what he likes to eat". The guard saluted and walked over in the direction of the dragon, the other guard glared at Regan, who still had his chains on. Forge asked the guard if he knew were the post was, he said he did and gave them directions to it

"But", he said "there are some gangs that like to roam that area, so you best be on your guard".

"Thanks for the information" he said revealing his sword to the man. The man looked down at the finely crafted blade and stated that he could get alot of money for that piece of merchandise, Forge agreed and wished him farewell. After leaving that place they traveled down the road until they reached the post office, he exchanged his letter and a silver coin or two and left. As they were leaving a group of rough looking men stopped them after exiting the door, several of them had strange tools that looked hand made and of poor quality, but a few had swords.

"Hold it right there you two, theres a fine for traveling through my part of town", the others laughed and scoffed at the two strangers. Regan was furious at such an insult, but knew he wouldn't be good in a fight with the chains still on, so he just sat there and feumed at them. This just made them laugh more.

"How dare you insult us! Do you not know how i am swine?",he flipped back his hood "I am Regan Dalategan, the Knight of Blood, slayer of all who opposes me!", he finished in a triumphant pose. Forge chuckled at that, but he could see that the 'swine' in front of him were not amused by his outburst.

"Ooo im so scared, the blood knights going to get me, oh wait" said one of the guys as he looked down at the shackles that held him back, "your in chains! what did you do? oh brave and".

"Shut up!", said the leader, "So do you to have anything worth anything or are we going to have to beat it out of you" he said tapping the rusted hilt of his club.

"Please chose the beating" he said smiling. Forge sighed and looked over at his enraged companion who would give anything to be free of his chain just to strike down this bigots.

"How much?" He said in a calm voice to the leader. He almost looked disappointed at not getting to have any fun with these two.

"200 gold pieces to pass", then he saw his swords handle protruding from his cloak, "Or you could give me that blade of yours fellow". Forge looked down at the blade he had finished only hours before, then an idea popped into his head.

"How about this", he said removing his cloak, the bandits looked in horror at how they had just tried to steel from, some of them turned and ran at the sight, other fell on their hands and knees trying to hide from his stair, but the leader just stood there with his jaw dropped. Forge walked up to the man and stood only inches from his face.

"You let us pass, go get jobs, and never bother anyone else again", he gestured to Regan to follow, "Oh and if i see you or your friends hurting anyone else", his sword was a blur as it flew from its sheath and barley touched the mans neck, "Got it?", the man nodded and ran away. Forge put his hood back on and they didn't have any more trouble while they walked. Regan, after remanning quiet for a long time afterwords finally got up the nerve to ask.

"What happened back there? They looked like they had seen a ghost or something, what did you do hear that made them so frightened of you?", He stopped talking, Forge as well had not said anything since that incident, but people started talking as they walked past now, and a crowd was following them, but keeping a very large gap between themselves and the two travelers. Forge looked at Regan, Regan looked at Forge, he sighed and looked at the ground.

"Do you really want to know?"

"yes", he said rather timidly. Forge opened his mouth and was about to saw something, when a little boy, no more then ten years old, walked up to them and handed him a little piece of paper and pen and asked,

"Mr. Forge...could you sign my autograph" he looked up with big pleading eyes, but they had a hint a fear in them, "Pleeaassseee?". Forge looked down at the kid then at Regan, who was now totally confused, then looked back at the kid and smiled.

"Its been along time since anyone has called me that", he said in a warm friendly voice, "sure ill sign it, but first, whats your name kid?", he took the piece of papar and started writing.

"Criss", he said bouncing up and down, obviously very happy to have gotten it signed.

"Dear Criss, always be brave and strong, and never forget who you are, your friend Forge"


End file.
